Garden Questions of the Week

“Where do we rent core aerators and slice seeders?” Check with your local tool rentals.  In the Mason area, we use Econowise Tool Rental!  As a matter of fact they’re easy to get to no matter where you live in the Cincy area.  www.econowiserental.com There are a lot of thinned out lawns this fall.  If your neighborhood has several lawns in need of rejuvenation, think about renting a core aerator and slice seeder to be shared with your neighbors.  You could have a lawn rejuvenation weekend party on your street, and share in the equipment costs (and maybe some of the labor as well!).

“Can I spray the crabgrass first, and then seed later this week?” -Nope, unless you’re using Roundup or Kleenup (which kills everything you spray it on).  Most weed killers have a waiting period of 4-6 weeks before you can seed.  Bonide’s Weed Beater Ultra is 2 weeks.  Nevertheless, in many cases, crabgrass juts laughs at weed killers this time of year.  You may be better off raking or pulling it out (shallow rooted), or just slice seeding right thru it.  The blades usually cut a lot of it off at ground level.  If not, the new grass will start to grow up thru the crabgrass clumps, and the crabgrass clumps will die after the first frost or two (while the grass keeps growing).  Make sure you use a pre emergent next spring.  Thick lawns and pre emergent herbicides – your best two defenses against crabgrass.

“What type of grass seed do you suggest we use in our lawn?” -Unless you’re doing a new lawn (or total renovation), you’ll need to match the type of seed you use with the type of grass already growing in the lawn (or something compatible with the existing lawn).  If you’re not sure what you have, take a 12 inch square of the sod to the garden stores and see if the grass types can be identified.  OR, visit www.scotts.com and go to the “Indentify your lawn” section.  They have great pictures of the different cool season grasses (and descriptions) for you to compare and make the call.  Personally, I like the turf type tall fescue blends, but these must be sown by themselves.  TLC (with Titan Limited), Turner 5 Way, and Scott’s Tall Fescue Blend are all good blends to consider.

And don’t forget to apply a starter fertilizer when you sow new seed.  It’s a must!

“I’m going to spot seed a few small bare areas in the lawn.  Do I need to out straw over the new seed?” Nope.  That’s one of the good things about seeding in the fall.  In most cases you can get away from using straw and lower the chances of dealing with wheat or weed seeds from the straw, as long as you keep the soil evenly moist.  I might suggest you look at the Scott’s EZ seed.  Seed (with water absorber), fertilizer and mulch all in one shaker can.  Perfect for spot seeding in the lawn!

“I see spring bulbs are available in the stores.  Can I plant them now?” I wouldn’t.  I’d suggest waiting until October.  Let the temps cool down and then plant.  Buy your bulbs now so you’ll get the selections and colors you wanted, but wait to plant.  By the way, use an actual bulb food like Espoma’s Bulb Tone, versus just bone meal.

“I have been killing poison ivy all summer and still have it.  You said a couple years ago it would get worse and you were right!  Anyway, the vines on a chain link fence have been killed – leaves browned and falling – also has shriveling berries.  Can the plants I have killed still give me a rash?  Do new plants grow from the berries?” -Poison ivy does continue to get worse every year!  And yes, those vines are very toxic!  So are the dead leaves and the berries (berries are eaten and carried by birds and other critters and distributed around for new poison ivy to grow!).  Studies have shown the dead vines to remain toxic for many years.  So protect yourself when pulling them out of the fence.

Garden Questions of the Week

“What plants can I still be planting in my veggie garden?” -Buying transplants this time of the year may be hard to find, but many are sown from seed.  Consider veggies that take 60 days or so to mature, or that enjoy cooler weather.  Examples include cilantro, dill, beets, most greens, peas, garlic (for next year), turnips, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, kale, radishes, onions, herbs you can pot up and take inside for the winter, etc.  And with a quick addition of a low hoop house or straw bale walls with plastic across the top, you can extend the fall growing season even longer.

“Is it too late to treat the lawn with a weed and feed?” -I wouldn’t.  As a matter of fact, I’m not a big one to use a weed and feed period.  With the September seeding season coming up, I’d concentrate on getting the grass recovered from the summer, getting new grass growing, and then possibly look at a weed killer to be applied in mid to late October if needed.  That’s a great time to go after many weeds in the lawn.  If you do seed in early September, make sure the new grass has been mowed 3 times before applying a weed killer to the lawn.  Again, mid to late October is one of the best times for broadleaf weed control – and use a water soluble weed killer to spot treat the weeds!  Be sure to check out our Success Tip of the Week on evaluating your lawn.

“When is the best time to lime my lawn?”  -Spring or fall and make sure that it’s not hot weather.  Now, the real question here is whether or not your lawn needs to be limed?  Personally I would never add lime to the lawn or garden (unless around tomatoes to add calcium) unless the soil was tested and required lime.  There are a lot of soils out there that do not need to be limed.  Was once an old habit to ‘sweeten the soil’, but now we know to ‘sweeten the soil’ if the soil test says we need sweetening. J

“Is it too late to plant things like roses, azaleas, and spruce trees?” -Actually, our landscape crews are planting new plants every day.  As long as you can water regularly, go ahead and plant.  Don’t forget that fall is the best time to plant just about everything, but if it’s available now and you can water, go for it.

“Do you have a cure for pesky raccoons?” -Not really.  If they get into the trash cans, pouring bleach on the cans has worked for me.  I have heard some folks soaking corncobs in vinegar, then placing those soaked cobs around the garden or where you don’t want the raccoons.  You may want to try that!   For corn patches, I have heard good results from growers who planted around the corn with squash, cucumbers, etc.  I guess the raccoons don’t like the sharp edges of the leaves and hesitate going through it to get to the corn.  And, of course, low electric fences or using the electronic motion detector of the ‘ScareCrow’ from ConTech may help.

“Ron, you mentioned getting several reports of in ground bee, wasp or yellow jacket nests.  What should we do if they are a problem?” Well, here’s a quote from our good friend The Bug Dog – “I’ve forced myself to be very unafraid of wasps buzzing around me or even landing on my arm or clothing. In most cases, they are simply inspecting me to determine if I’m food or not! On the other hand, if one strikes me or persists in buzzing loudly in front of me, I must assume that I may be close to a nest and this worker is giving me a warning to move away. Honey bees, bumble bees and many wasps do give “warnings” if you are willing to listen! Stinging is really the last resort and the behavior can be very risky for the bee or wasp. Honey bees actually die after stinging because their barbed stinger gets stuck and pulls off the tip of the abdomen when the bee departs.   My general recommendation about social bees and wasps is to try and avoid getting near their nests. They’ll be gone after the first hard frost. However, if you happen to find a nest that has been built under the mulch in a flower bed, a hole in the lawn, or other place where you may regularly need to perform maintenance, control may be necessary. There are all kinds of wasp and hornet aerosol sprays on the market, but these are generally inadequate for control of bees and wasps that nest in the ground or in wall voids. Only the umbrella wasps, Polistes, can be easily hit with these sprays. If you can locate, during the day, where the yellowjackets or bumble bees are entering their nests, try to determine where the wasps or bees land before crawling into the nest chamber. Make a mental note of this. Your strategy will be to dust this area with an insecticide, AT NIGHT, when the bees and wasps are unlikely to fly or be disturbed. My favorite insecticide to use is Sevin 5% or 10% garden dust, but you can find other garden dusts with pyrethroids. Thoroughly dust the landing spot with the dust so that the next day most of the bees or wasps will walk through the material. Once they walk through the insecticide dust, the insects will carry the material into the nest. There, the bees and wasps will groom themselves and each other, distributing the insecticide throughout the colony. I’ve been pretty successful at knocking out a colony with one application, but sometimes a rain or irrigation can wash away the insecticide dust, so another application may be necessary in a few days.”   –Dr. Dave Shetlar (The Bug Doc)

“Do you know of a recipe for making a leaf shine for indoor plants?” -Yes, many.  But they aren’t recommended any more.  The best thing for your plants is to wash them off in the shower or tub and wipe down the leaves.  Don’t use leaf shines.

“My lantana had flowers, but now has small purple berries and no flowers.  Any ideas?” -Yes, it went to seed.  Cut off those seed heads, and clip back tips of the plant.  Hopefully we’ll get it to re-grow and keep flowering.

“I have tomato hornworms on my tomatoes which are in planters up on a deck area.  How did the hornworms find my tomatoes?” The adult moth finds the plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes) and then lays eggs on the undersides of the leaves.  By the way, it could be tomato or tobacco hornworms, as they both feed on the same plants.  To tell the difference, the tobacco hornworm has 7 diagonal white stripes and a red horn / tomato has V-shaped markings and the horn is black).

“My Autumn Joy Sedum always flops over this time of the year.  What can I do to prevent this?” - Place a grow ring or peony ring over them before they start to grow in the spring (for support), or cut them in half late May/early June.  This delays flowering by a couple weeks, but keeps them shorter, stockier, and less apt to flop over.